Machine for making knitted pile fabrics



Nov. 3 1925.

A. A. GRUNDY MACHINE FOR MAKING KNITTED PILE FABRICS Filed Sept. 18.1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l UBIJUUUUUIJUULIUUUU UUGUUUUUUUUUUUUU AWE/ho/4//rea7 f Gr mm? m T/VESS:

Nov. 3, 1925- 1,560,229

A. A. GRUNDY MACHINE FOR MAKING KNITTED PILE FABRICS Filed Sept. 18.1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 3, 1925.

. UNITED STATES 1,560,229- PATENT OFFICE.

- ALFRED A. GRUNDY, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGnoH or ONE-THIRDr HIMSELF, ONE-THIRD 'ro GEORGE GRUSHLAW, AND ONE-THIRD. TO JOHN sIoHEL,ALL or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR MAKING KNITTED PILE FABRICS.

Application filed September 18,1924. Serial No. 738,332.

To all whom itmmy concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED A. GnuNDY, a 1 citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines fora knit pile fabric.

' quire the use of two machines, involve delay and expense; and,moreover, the cutting knives speedily-lose their cutting edges and mustbe frequently "replaced.

The machlne embodying the present invention is adapted to themanufacture of pile fabric on one machine. This machine is preferably acircular machine of the rib knitting type, differing from a machine ofordinary construction in respect to the special means employed forproducing the'spe oial pile-forming loops, and in respect to thepeculiar means provided for cuttin the loops, which means not onlyoperate d uring the knitting operation but are of such a character thatthey are virtually immune against wear.

The knitting mechanism comprises a bank of needles extending andreciprocating inone direction (say vertically) and operatingsimultaneously on two threads; a bank of f dummy needles, or bars,extending and reclprocating in another direction (say horizontally orradially) and adapted to engage one thread and two yarn feeds, one onone side say above) the plane of the radial bars and t e other on theother side (say below) the plane of the radial bars. If the needles beassumed to be the vertical needles of a rib knitting machine and if theradial bars be assumed to be substituted for the dial or radial needlesof a rib knitting machine, and

'if these needles and bars be operated the regular way, one thread willbe looped over" the bars and the other under the bars, forming thusnormal interconnected loops that do not engage the bars and longfloating loops that are looped over the bars. The tension devices whichpull down the fabric as it is knit act to elongate the bar-engaging orfloating loops to the desired length.

The cutting mechanism comprises essentially a bite roller which rollsover and presses, down on'the yoke portions of the loops while they arestretched over the bars, thereby severing them and forming theupstanding pile. It is found that this roller action is perfectly andreliably effective to sever all the loops, and in the absence of anycuttingedge, the factor'of abrasion is substantially eliminated and therollers have itflong and perhaps practically unlimited While I havereferred to but one pair of thread carriers, it will be understood thatthere may be a plurality of pairs of thread carrierssay two to eight-thenumber varying with the dia-meter'of the machine. Where the machine isused to make piece goods and is therefore of substantial diameter, it isdesirable to provide more than one pair of thread carriers. Four pairsof thread carriers are practicable on the ordinary circular machineintended for the production of these goods. The mechanism, ncluding thecams for actuating the needles and the loop-forming bars, and theloopsevering roller, is duplicated for each pair of thread carriers.

The machine shown in the accompanying drawin s, which shows a preferredembodiment 0 my invention, comprises ..four sets of'knitting and pilefornfing mechanism.

Fig.1 is a plan view of the dial cam plate, its cams, and theloop-cutting rollers. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view'of a part of themachine shown in Fig. 1.

1 F'g. 3 is a front view of part of Fig. 2.-

Fig. 4; is a radial cross-section through the cylinder, the dialand theloop-cutting mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a front View of a few of the cylinder needles and dial barsand a pair of thread guides.-

' Fig- 6 is a diagram of the fabric.

a, a are the vertical cylinder needles of a rib knitting machine and arevertically reoiprocable 1n the usual way by canis (not shown). I), b arebars correspondingto the radial or dial needles of such a machine andare similarly associated with the cylinder needles and are reciprocableradially by cams d, c and f. g and]; (see Fig. 5) represent yarn guideslocated opposite cam e. One of these guides delivers yarn m from abovethe plane of the dial bars and the other delivers yarn y from below theplane of the dial bars.

With needles, bars and yarn guides arranged as described, and operatingthe needles and bars in the usual way, the vertical needles 0 willengage both threads :0 and y simultaneously and form plain loops; but inthe projection of the-dial bars Z), the

, thread a: delivered from above the plane of the dial bars will be laidover these bars and therefore their yoke portions will not engage thenecks of the adjacent course of loops and will not unite adjacentcourses ofknitting.

The machine shown is one in which the needle-actuating cams andbar-actuating cams are stationary and the needles and bars rotate(although a reverse arrangement will be understood to be the fullequivalent). As the newly formed loops advance, the tension imposed onthe fabric already knit tends to tighten the adjacent interlockedcourses of newly formed loops of yarn 3 but the effect upon the loops ofthe yarn a; is to still further elongate them preparatory to cuttingthem'to form the pile.

As the needles and bars travel toward the point of yarn severance, thebars are extended beyond the edge of the dial i and the loops formed bythe yarn 00 are nearly in alignment with the outer edge of the dial,while the knitting fabric extends down between the periphery of the diali and the inside of the needle cylinder j. At the point of severance,the stationary overlying dial cam plate is is cut away to accommodate aroller m turnable, in roller bearings, on a shaft carried on a member atslidable in a frame 0 secured to the dial cam plate is. A coil spring pis confined between the chamber a and a disc 0' adjustable by means of ascrew 8. 1

As the dial bars I) rotate in the direction of the arrows, Figs. 2 and3, the roller m rolls over their upper surfaces with a degree ofpressure that is adjustable by means of the screw 8 and spring p. Thepressure may be made sufficiently great to bite the yarn between theroller and the underrunning dial bars I) and sever all the loopssuccessively.

It is not necessary that the pressure applied by the roller m shall bea. yielding one; but this is desirable in case any of the dial bars arenot precisely in the common plane of the other bars. Thus, if any one ofthe dial bars are below the level of the other bars, the spring-pressedroller will over the other bars and will sever theyarn looped thereoverwith the same degree of certainty that it severs the yarn of the otherloops. A rigid. roller is workable, but in case of the depression of oneof the dial bars slightly below the level of the others, th roller mayfail to sever the corresponding loops and leave a stripe effect in thefinished fabric which may somewhat mar its appearance.

The considerable pressure imposed by the roller m on the dial bars I) isclose to the overhanging ends thereof and is likely, after longcontinued operation of the machine, to impose a severe strain on them.To af ford a support for the overhanging end of the dial bars, 'I secureto the fixed .part of .the machine, directly underneath the roller m, abracket u (see Fig. 4) on which is mounted a roller '0, whose peripheryextends underneath the outer ends of the dial bars b and affords asupporting surface over which each bar rolls as it is being subjected tothe downward pressure of the bite roller m.

In Fig. 6 is shown a diagram of a small section of fabric includingseveral wales and several courses. The last knit course of loops formedby the yarn w is shown pulled taut over dial bars 5 before they are cutby the bite roller m. The previously knit courses of loops formed by theyarn w are shown as cut to form a pile effect on the fabric; the body ofthe fabric. being composed of normal loops formed by the yarn y.

Havin now fully described my invention, what I c aim and. desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a knitting machine, the combination with traveling needles andyarn-holding bars adapted to cooperate to form elongated loops engagingthe bars, of a bite-roller stationary relative to the bars andositioned, in the travel of the latter, to r0 1 over the bars and pressthe'yarn between it and the bars and thus effect the severance of theyarn.

2. In a knitting machine, the combination with mechanism adapted to formcourses'of loops of one yarn and courses of loops of another yarnextending through loops of the other course and elongated to form aplush-like surface, said mechanism including bars over which saidelongated loops extend, and a bite roller adapted to roll over said barsand bite and sever the yarn of i said loops.

3. In a knitting machine, the combination with mechanism adapted to forma series of 100 s of one yarn interengaging to form a plain knitted weband a series of loops of another yarn extending through the loops of thefirst series and elongated to form a plush-like surface, said mechanismincluding bars over whichsaid elongated loops exhea set) tend, and amember presenting a rolling surface adapted to roll over said liars andloite and sever the yarn of said loops.

4. In a knitting machine, the combina tion with a series of verticallyextending reciprocahle traveling needles, of a series of horizontalextending traveling bars, a yarn feed adapted to deliver yarn under thebars to, said needles whereby the latter knit plain web loops, a yarnfeed adapted to deliver yarn over said bars to said needles to formpile-formingloops, and a roller stationary relative to the bars andpositioned, in the travel ofthe latter, to roll over the bars and pressthe yarn of the loops between it and the bars and thereby sever theyarn.

5. In a knitting machine, the combination with a series of verticallyextending and re-= ciprocable traveling needles, of a series of radiallyextending and reciprocahle traveling hare, and yarn feeds one of whichis adapted to deliver yarn direct to needles and the other of which isadapted to deliver yarn over said here to needles, said hers adapted toelongate the loops formed thereon and hold the yolre portions of theloops of a .oourse lrom engaging the necks of an adjacent course ofloops, and a bite roller adapted to roll over said bars and bite andsever the yarn out the'elongated loops.

6, ln a knitting machine, the combination of a yarn feed and a series ofreciprocahle needles adapted to engage yarn from said teed mid knit itinto a plain welna second yarn feed adapted to deliver yarn to saidneedles, a series of bars adapted to engage eratin formed by yarn fedfrom the second feed and elongate the loops formed thereby, said needlesop: to draw both yarns through loops the first yarn but being restrainedby said bars from drawing yarn through loops formed by the second yarn,and a biteroller adapted to roll over he yarn looped over bars and byits pressing action sever the yarn and form apile.

7. In a knitting machine, the combination with knitting mechanism andyarn-holding hare adapted to cooperate to term elongated loopsengagingthe bars, of a biteroller adapted to rollover the hars and the yarnlooped thereon, and a s ring adapted to impme a strong but yiel ingpressure on the roller-and thereby insure its operation notwithstandinga variation in the level Oil the loop-holding liars. v 8. In a knittingmachine, the combination with travelling needles and yarn-holding barsadapted to cooperate to form elongated loops engaging the bars, of tworollers stationary relative to the bars, one roller, adapted to rollover the bars and press the yarn of the loops between it and the bars tosever the yarn, and the other roller adapted to roll under the free endsof the bars and afiord a support therefor while the other roller ispressing down upon the bars lln testimony of which invention, 1 haveALFRED A, GRUNDYQ this 17th day Of P m'

